


Accompany You

by Neon_Sleep



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cats are gremlins, Confessions, Counting sheep, Crack?, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Insomnia, Living Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neon_Sleep/pseuds/Neon_Sleep
Summary: “Is something bothering you? You seem kind of restless.”“Mm.” She nodded. “My brain just won’t switch off. It’s one of those nights, apparently.”“Ah. Still thinking about the dark secret we unearthed today? To tell the truth, that’s been on my mind as well. It’s hard not to think about.” Claude rests his hands behind his head on the pillow and they stare at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling together, contemplating the day’s revelation.Byleth can't sleep, discoveries are made and confessions are... confessed.ORI wrote a crack fic inspired by one of Gavin's ASMR tracks from Mr. Love: Queen's Choice during a bout of insomnia. Enjoy.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Accompany You

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the outline for this at 3AM when sleep wouldn't come. Then ended up somehow writing 1.5k words, when I initially planned on only 500. I hope anyone up reading fics this late (see: posted at 1AM) can read this and laugh with me.

“ _You’ve been tossing and turning.”_

Claude laughs as Byleth gives up trying to find a comfortable position on the bed, and instead just lays staring up at the ceiling with one leg off the bed and the covers askew.

“I’m getting cold, you know.” Claude weakly tugs on the blanket. Byleth turns her head and sees she’s somehow managed to steal the entire blanket in her quest for peace. She throws half of it back over Claude, partially smacking him in the face. “Sorry,” she mumbles. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nah, I was awake too. Just…lying still.” He raises an eyebrow, trying his best to look concerned and not amused by his cute girlfriend. “Is something bothering you? You seem kind of restless.”

“Mm.” She nodded. “My brain just won’t switch off. It’s one of _those_ nights, apparently.”

“Ah. Still thinking about the dark secret we unearthed today? To tell the truth, that’s been on my mind as well. It’s hard not to think about.” Claude rests his hands behind his head on the pillow and they stare at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling together, contemplating the day’s revelation.

Earlier they had decided to do some spring cleaning, and when they’d taken the cushions off of the couch, they were both in a state of shock to find a hoard of cat toys and missing items. Claude’s cat, Rossa, stood around and meowed in complaint at “her things” being rearranged. Neither of them paid her any attention, too busy collecting their lost items to entertain her whining.

“Huh, I’ve been looking for this sock for a month and a half.” Byleth tilted her head in amazement.

“The spare key! So this is where it was when I locked myself out last week,” Claude frowned. “I had to wait two hours for you to get home and let me in.” He’d starved out in their apartment hallway like a pathetic puppy waiting on it’s owner to return.

“Is that—a hundred dollar bill? Claude von Riegan, _I told you_ that you need a wallet. You shouldn’t just keep this kind of cash in your pants’ pockets.” This was not a new lecture; _why_ Claude refused to buy a wallet was beyond her understanding. It’s not like he didn’t have the pocket space.

Claude looked at his cat in betrayal. “Rossa. How could you do me like this? I thought we were bros.” But Rossa was only interested in the toy mouse they’d uncovered with the rest of their stuff, and she grabbed it in her mouth and pounced off to another room. She probably had to find a new hiding place now.

They eventually were able to look back on the moment and laugh, (like, two minutes later, since it _was_ pretty funny), but now, lying in bed, something about that moment bothered Byleth.

“It’s just that-“ she started, turning her head towards Claude, “well, we found everything that’s gone missing in the apartment since we moved in together three months ago.”

“Huh. We really should clean more often, shouldn’t we?”

“Probably, but what’s bothering me is that we didn’t find any of my hair ties.”

“Ack,” Claude choked on his own spit, and coughed for a bit before regaining his composure. “Um, hair ties? What do you mean?”

Byleth sighed. “All of my hair ties seem to go missing, and I was sure that Rossa was doing it. It’s not the end of the world, I know she’s a cat and probably thinks that they’re toys. It’s just mildly inconvenient that every time I stretch one out to where it sits comfortably in my hair, it goes missing.”

During Byleth’s admission, Claude breaks into a nervous sweat. He wrings the blanket in shame, dreading what’s coming next. No matter how guilty he is, he knows it’s time to come clean.

“I have a confession.”

“Hmm?” Byleth nestles under the blanket facing him, finally able to get comfortable now the weight of that mystery was off her chest and out in the open.

“I’vebeenstealingyourhairties.” His entire body tensed, waiting for the disappointment he knew he was facing.

It took her a moment to process. “You. You’ve been stealing my hair ties. But why would you do that? You never even wear your hair up Claude.” Byleth was more confused by his admission than she had been to find their cats’ treasure trove of their personal effects.

“Well, I’ve kind of been… repurposing them.”

“Repurposing.” She deadpanned.

“Every time I have a minor inconvenience, they always happen to be lying around! Like that time I needed a bookmark!” He defended.

“What about the whole stack of bookmarks on your desk?”

“Or the time we ran out of clips for chip bags. It made a convenient closure!”

“We _have_ a drawer full of twisty ties. Conveniently located in the kitchen.”

“Two weeks ago I lost my money clip and a hair tie has been holding my important cards together in my pockets ever since. Hair ties are truly a magical invention.”

“ _That’s_ what you’ve been using instead of a wallet? No wonder we found a hundred dollars in the couch. Ugh.”

Byleth turned over in a huff, mock angry. She was trying not to laugh, really, but she _was_ mildly annoyed. Rest in peace, hair ties.

“Don’t turn your back on me! Turn around.” He begged, desperately pulling on her shoulder to no avail.

When Byleth made no move to cooperate, Claude cuddled up to her back, nose nuzzling her hair and making high-pitched whining noises. Eventually he settled down, defeated, and began his lament.

“You’re angry, because of me.” He twirled a strand of her hair between his fingers. “On top of that, I made you lose out on precious sleep too.”

Byleth rolls her eyes, finally allowing herself a smile. “Claude, you should’ve just told me. I would’ve bought you a pack of rubber bands or something.”

“I know. I won’t do it again,” he promises, still dejected.

“Thank you.” She turns around and kisses him on the forehead, causing his face to light up and his bubbly late-night energy to return in full force. They hug and laugh at his antics together, until Claude speaks again.

“I have one more confession.”

Byleth raises an eyebrow. “Tread lightly, von Riegan. You’re on thin ice.”

“A pipe under the kitchen sink came loose last week and I used a hair tie to hold it together until I had time to actually fix it.” He grimaced, awaiting judgement.

Byleth is well and truly shocked this time, and for a moment doesn’t react. She reaches out and lightly pinches him in the side, meant as a reprimand for treating their plumbing so lightly, but is surprised when Claude lets out a halted laugh and quickly grabs both her wrists in a tight grip.

“Hey! How dare you pinch my waist,” he pouted.

“I didn’t know you were ticklish,” she admits, filing that information away for later.

They both lie on their backs, the tiredness from the day setting in once again. They lay there in silence for half an hour, Byleth awake and staring up at their star laden ceiling. Sleep evaded her.

Claude blinks his eyes open and looks over at his other half. Sleep evaded him, too, but he was much better at faking it. “Still not sleepy, huh?”

She shook her head. “Nope. It’s just not happening for me.”

He rolled to his side. “What if I tried counting sheep for you?”

“Hmm,” she rolled to face him. “It’s worth a shot.”

He grabbed her hands in his own and counted on her fingers, gently rubbing each finger pad as he went along. “One sheep, two sheep…”

He made it all the way to 10 before closing his eyes and feigning sleep.

“…That’s it? Ten?” Byleth snorted, “I’ve been jyped.”

He smiled and reopened his eyes, a warm expression on his face. “Alright, alright. But we’re holding hands, so I get to skip to twenty.

“I think your lack of sleep has brought out your lazy side.” She squeezed his hands, regardless.

“ _Strategically_ lazy. I learned from the best, you know.”

A sigh. “Okay, Hilda. Now keep counting.”

He chuckled, continuing. “Twenty one sheep, Twenty two sheep…”

He made it all the way to the 30’s before he started yawning uncontrollably, which of course made Byleth start yawning as well. Either exhaustion was finally setting in, or the sheep were miraculously working. The 50’s was when Claude started hitting his limit.

“Fifty two… sheep. Fifty three… sheep.” His eyes were closed at this point, but he still scrunched his eyebrows in concentration, “What’s after fifty three?”

Byleth watched him struggle with love in her eyes, even though hers were half-closed. “Fifty four.”

His words started to slur. “Mm. Fifty four. Sheep. Yes. Fifty five sheep. Fifty six… shee. Fify… sev… sh…”

Byleth waited for fifty eight, but it never came. Instead, she pulled her soft, snoring partner closer. She rested her head on his chest and smoothed a hand over his hair. Soon sleep would take her too, but for now she was content to relax to the sound of Claude’s deep breaths and rhythmically beating heart.

“ _Sleep, my little sheep._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> So... that happened. I hope you liked it, and maybe it made you smile. Bonus points if Claude's counting (or Gavin's) put you to sleep. Get some rest for the both of us, friendo.


End file.
